Expert: Mark Harmon - 12/31/2008

Question
why are we letting the so called comic graders control our reading i started collecting comics 40 years ago to read and have now we are buying comics in closed cases and we cant even open them without price drops i grade my comics to my specs and when i get a comic on line it never matches up one time i heard a story about a guy bought one of them and opened it and the inside pages were in very bad shape

Answer
Hello,

I agree with a number of your points, but I'm not sure I understand where comic graders control our reading.  Although I personally don't care for professionally graded comics, I do see where they have some value.  For one, encapsulation can help preserve older comics and delay the natural wear that comes with age.  

Secondly, for expensive comics, I can understand where buyers would feel more secure making a purchase when a non-biased, third party has looked the comic over and assigned a grade rather than plunking down a large amount of money for a raw (unslabbed) comic and then finding out later that there was restoration done or other flaws exist that the seller never bothered to mention.

I can relate to your experience with purchasing comics online and just as there are grading inconsistencies with online sellers, I'm sure there are similar inconsistencies with the professional grading companies.  I've certainly seen a few professionally graded comics where the grade given was higher than what I would have expected.

You probably do this already, but when purchasing from online dealers for the first time, I usually only spend a small dollar amount.  Then I can get an idea if a seller has grading standards that are similar to mine before I make a larger purchase.  

Besides selling online, I also buy comics for my personal collection, and I can say that there are reputable sellers out there who know how to grade.

- Mark